Which planet to start on?

[FlorencioNineWind]

This game is somewhere around one decade old now and the players have long understood the irritating costs to play "actively" and the reasons why many new players drop out early. The game has improved and changed dramatically since its beginning, but there are still problems that many fear will persist for many years to come. Those who love this game have learned to adapt, but there is a steep learning curve for new players. (Even with the recent newbie experience upgrades). The players have yelled at MA for years, offering various solutions to their problems, but MA often fails to listen. MA (MindArk) original creator of the game platform and technically the owner of Calypso even though they also technically aren't. MA has been more communicative in recent months and they appear to have attempted to be more communicative like the much more appreciated Arkadian development team. But, since the game runs on real money it is difficult to encorporate new ideas. While the game can be free to play (I am a good example of a freeplayer) in order to truly be active, activity and skill wise, you do need to pay a lot to play. However, you can and many do find a middle-ground where they end up paying, as you said, what a normal MMO fee would be. The trick is to play smart, be careful with your money, go slow, and be as eco as possible which includes trying to get as much Mark-Up for items as you can.

As far as the kill quests go; there are 2 main types of quests in this game.

1) Story-line quests which often feature some sort of story-line along with doing various activities such as find this area, interact with this object, kill this many of this type of mob. These quests require you to kill considerably less mobs than the other type of quest. Often varrying around 20-200.

2) Iron/hunting challenges. These are the quests that will require you to kill a vast amount of mobs to complete. They are seen more as "goal" quests rather than "completion" quests. Meaning that they are used as long term goals to achieve rather than quick story-lines that you want to advance in as fast as possible. The amount of mobs varies by palnet; I know that Arkadian Iron challenges require you to kill less mobs than Calypso ones; but they will commonly ask you to kill around 500 mobs for the first mission, then 1,000, then 5,000, and finally 10,000 after which you will enter the bronze mission challenges which are basically the same thing except with higher level maturity mobs.

There are also 2 types of secondary quests.

1) More recently the planet partners have begun adding "instances". These are like arena style quests where you enter an area and follow through with the instructions until the end. Sometimes they feature a story-line, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they require you to complete the instance before you are allowed to leave, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they have a timer, sometimes they don't. Examples of these quests include: Arkadian Key quests, Robot Beacons (on Calypso), and The Fire-Wall (On Rocktropia).

2) Random little quests here and there that you come upon that don't really have much of a story-line and or isn't an iron challenge or instance.

[Roni]

Originally Posted by Aurian Asano

Hey guys, no fighting in my thread!

I started on Arkadia for the newbie quest chain, and am glad I did. That hoverpod has been invaluable. However, I had a very hard time mining for some reason, and moved to Cyrene for the higher markups. That has worked out well so far.

BUT! I have a great concern that might cause me to quit or play considerably less in the near future.

Mining is the only thing I can afford to do that doesn't drain too much money from my account. I am not interested in lotteries and am not willing to lose more than say, 150 PED a month, which would be a normal subscription fee for an MMO. The cost of ammo, even with an 'eco' rifle recommended by my mentor, is outrageous. Doing a quest to kill 500 'newbie friendly' mobs - one of the very few that I can actually kill with my low skills - would cost me 50 PED in ammo. That's just for ONE quest. If I wanted to be very active every day, I would need to sink 50 dollars + into the game each month just for the most basic activities that will skill me up. It's okay that crafting is too expensive to be an option, or really most professions, but quests? Come on.

It's not very motivating to know exactly how much money I lose with each mob I kill. The loot is always worth close to nothing, at least with mining the reward varies considerably, and I only lose a little over a long period of time.

So if many new players quit, this could be why. Basic activities like kill quests shouldn't cost that much to complete.

You are not forced to do the missions. To be honest...I dont do them cause exactly of what you said: its a money drain. I build my skills anyway, but at my own pace. Try not to aproach Entropia as a typical game. Or a lottery. You will be very disappointed. Yes, Entropia can turn out to be very expensive if you focus on skill building. And if you *gamble* on hitting the jackpot....only the house wins here.

The way I see it: there are a lot of opportunities..trading for example can be a good way to prevent money drain. (its a bit tedious though IMHO). Do a LOT of research before engaging in a profession. Forums, Entropedia or many of the blogs, face book groups that offer information on eco gameplay. I see Entropia as a nice way to spend my free time and its not much more expensive as eating outdoors and spending an evening in a bar with friends.

Starting with 50 $ a month should be enough...but dont expect to be able to hunt for hours everyday. Another reason why I avoid the missions is cause its not guaranteed the loot would be something that has a possible good Market value. So you need to figure out what the market wants and find the mob that drops it...same goes for mining. And ofc within your skill level.

Good luck and dont give up to fast...Entropia is known to have a steep learning curve.

Regards, Roni